


Shoot your shot when you see em (he's already in my DMs)

by dearericbittle (dutchmoxie)



Series: Slide into those DMs [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Online Relationship, POV Derek, Phone Calls & Telephones, Pining, So much pining it's a forest, Twitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 20:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20570105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dutchmoxie/pseuds/dearericbittle
Summary: Derek may or may not be falling in love with one of Laura's employees, and he's only ever spoken to him on the phone. Stiles doesn't even know his name! But apparently, he does know how to slide into his DMs.





	Shoot your shot when you see em (he's already in my DMs)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EvanesDust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvanesDust/gifts).

> The wonderful EvanesDust made this fic happen, so please appreciate her accordingly!

_ 6 months before _

Derek couldn’t remember when he first started paying attention to Laura’s lengthy talks about what was going on at the shop. He remembered really not giving a damn about her employees when she mentioned needing to hire a barista on the Fourth of July, and he remembered listening obsessively when she mentioned said barista over Christmas.

So clearly the change occurred somewhere in between. Probably before Thanksgiving, and maybe even before Halloween.

Laura hired Stiles Stilinski in September, and while Derek vaguely remembered hearing tales of just how much the new guy talked and how great he was with the customers… Well he had other things on his mind.

Mostly Erica, because she’d once again managed to get herself in trouble. Or well, trouble… On the scale of Erica, this barely even qualified. But she was unhappy, and Derek wouldn’t let that continue if he could do something about it. Even if it was just pretending to be her angry, muscled boyfriend if she was being harassed for the umpteenth time.

She was like a little sister to him, and while she told him many times and in great detail just how attractive she was, she didn’t actually want to be in a relationship with him. Probably because she was completely in love with his best friend, and Boyd was just dragging his feet on making a move.

But until Boyd got his head out of his ass (for once Derek actually felt like he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t get his love life together), Derek would play Erica’s boyfriend. Mostly through candid pictures, at a distance – they’d taken a lot of pictures together over the years.

And then Isaac asked if he could use the pictures as well, using either Erica or Derek as a fake partner when the mood struck. Derek was just surprised and annoyed that his friends were dealing with enough harassment and unwanted dick pics. And then Laura jokingly told him that he could make a lot of people very happy without even doing anything.

So he posted the pictures online, because why the hell not? If people needed that resource, he was happy to provide. He wasn’t really interested in dating anyone himself, so why not make use of his angry brow to repel assholes?

Because of course that harassment was 99% male. Derek was not surprised. And neither was Erica - because she’d been dealing with it since sixth grade at least. 

Though she did laugh at him when she found out the pictures were posted online as well - mocking him mercilessly and calling him her Beta Knight in shining armor. And he hated that nickname. Because it was ridiculous. 

He thought Erica was the worst at embarrassing him, until the new guy from Laura’s shop called him when he was in the midst of a tricky translation for an engineering firm. 

“Dude,” the guy started losing points with Derek right away, “is Laura around?”

Derek really fucking hated bro culture and all the nicknames attached to it. But then again, he was a grumpy old man in a young body - according to both his sister and his friends. 

“Laura?” He repeated, because, well, what else was he going to do? 

The asshole actually laughed at him. “Echooooo, yes Laura. Laura Hale?”

At least this idiot had gotten close to the right person - if it had been a random Laura, Derek would have hung up on him. With extreme prejudice. Not that he wasn’t tempted now. 

“This isn’t Laura’s number.”

“Shocking,” the ensuing eye roll was almost audible over the phone - a true accomplishment. “I would not have guessed from that surprisingly smooth tenor. You’re the emergency contact, dude. No idea who you are, but I’m supposed to call you if I can’t get a hold of Laura.”

Damn it, Laura. Well, not that it was surprising, because someone had to be the Alpha’s second, and those duties usually fell to Derek. Because he was family, because he’d gotten a lot of the same Werewolf Lessons from Talia that Laura did. Because he had the kind of job that allowed for impromptu departures for pack emergencies. 

This just wasn’t a pack emergency. 

He sighed. “What’s wrong?”

“Coffee shop emergency,” the guy made it sound like it was basically life or death, which Derek honestly doubted. “The douche didn’t show up for his shift, without any fucking notice because that’s the kind of guy he is, and I kind of have a class that I really can’t skip. I mean, I would, for Laura, but I need my scholarship. So. If you could tell her to haul ass to the shop. Or call in a replacement. Or anything that won’t get my tight, sexy butt booted from my program. I mean, you have some time. I have an hour before I need to leave. I’ll just skip lunch.”

Did he even take a second to breathe anywhere in that whole monologue? Either this guy’s brain moved even faster than his mouth did, or… Well, what was the other option? Derek didn’t know, and that was really intriguing, albeit kind of annoying. 

But it did leave him with some goodwill towards the coffee shop stranger. 

“I’ll drag her out of bed if I have to,” he solemnly vowed. 

There was a sigh of relief on the other end of the line. “Thanks Grumpy Gus, glad to hear I can count on you.”

Grumpy Gus? Erica would call it pretty damn accurate, but Derek was still offended. Because he was actually being pretty damn nice to this guy - Laura would call it uncharacteristic, even. 

Not that this guy would know. 

“My name’s not…”

Of course, the guy had already hung up the phone by the time he managed to get his voice to cooperate. 

Later, when he’d tracked down Laura (safe at home, with a claw-damaged phone), he’d found out that the stranger was Stiles. The new guy that Laura had hired. 

Derek made sure not to sound too interested. 

Because he wasn’t. 

* * *

_5 months before_

Of course that wasn’t the last time the mysterious Stiles called him up, looking for Laura. It started happening more often than he’d expected from his usually so responsible sister. Clearly, she was dating someone new and didn’t want to introduce them to Derek yet. 

But then it happened again, on the worst day of the year. Or one of them, anyway. There were too many now. 

“Grumpy Gus, don’t hate me,“ the words were out before Derek could say his name. 

Stiles, again. If it had been anyone else, Derek would have ripped their throat out. With his teeth. Just for daring to call him on… This fucking day. 

But because it was Stiles, he wasn’t even going to hang up on him without another word. He was actually acting like a semi-decent semi-human being. This was fucking embarrassing. 

“What is it?” He was still short with Stiles, but more resigned than actually angry. 

“It’s Thanksgiving soon,” Stiles was quick with that nonsensical answer. 

October had turned into November too quickly, and Derek really hadn’t been ready for the feelings to hit him when he woke up that morning. Time moved faster when he was trying to be a functional mostly human being. 

“I know,” Derek was not as patient as he could have been. “I’m perfectly capable of checking a calendar. As are you, clearly.”

Was it an asshole thing to say? Probably. Would it delight Stiles? Absolutely. For some reason Stiles was not scared off by Derek’s harshness and his occasionally outright rude sense of humor. In fact, Stiles had made it his mission to make Derek laugh. 

He’d actually told him that too, because that was the kind of person Stiles was. 

“You’re killing me, Gus,” Stiles sounded amused. 

Derek tried once again. “That’s not my name.” 

Every single time Stiles called him, Derek tried to tell him his name. And every single time, Stiles either didn’t let him get there because of some random thought he just had to voice, or just continued to use that stupid nickname for him because he thought it was more fun. 

“I know, Stacey,” Stiles was clearly losing it somehow. “That’s not your name. I’m not calling you darling, I’m not calling you bird. And I know you don’t get the reference, because you’re an angry luddite and I love that about you.” 

Luddite? He really didn’t know where Stiles had gotten that impression, but he also knew that he didn’t have a chance in hell to change Stiles’ mind - that was just how stubborn this guy was. He always had a million thoughts, and since his mouth ran almost as fast as his mouth did, there was always one more thing he had to voice. And Derek could just listen. 

“Thanks?” Derek was used to using his eyebrows to convey a point. 

“Look, your sister is once again not answering her phone,” Stiles steamrolled right over him, without so much as a pause for breath. “We both know that means she’s with the boyfriend, and since for some reason you have Travis’ phone number and I do not. So… Help me Grumpy-Wan-Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” 

Of course this involved a Star Wars reference - it wasn’t the first one and certainly wouldn’t be the last - probably followed by a comment about Stiles’ best friend who still hadn’t seen Star Wars after years and years of Stiles asking him to. 

“I am not the Hale you’re looking for,” Derek was barely even embarrassed to respond. 

Stiles squeaked out a laugh, terribly pleased with him and his terrible joke - and that didn’t make Derek happy at all, no way. It didn’t matter what Stiles thought of him, and he clearly wasn’t going to disturb Laura on a day that was awful for both of them just because Stiles asked. Only he was, because he was pathetic. 

He made Stiles laugh, and it… Shouldn’t have mattered that much, but did. 

“Grumpy Gus I do declare,” Stiles was still sniggering a little. 

If only they were in the same room, so Derek could smell how pleased he was, how much he enjoyed these interactions.

Great, it was a full-on crush now. Just what he needed for Laura to mock him mercilessly. 

* * *

_4 months before_

“You know him so much better than I do,” Laura was pouting at him. “And while I should probably just acknowledge how weird that is when you guys have never met… I just need your help right now. I’m swamped and Stiles has saved my ass so many times. He deserves more than a decent Christmas gift, but until you pull your head out of your ass, I can’t exactly wrap a bow around you and drop you off at his doorstep.” 

Any minute now, Laura was going to allude to him wearing nothing but the bow for Stiles to really appreciate the gift, and he was going to have to kill her. 

He chose to roll his eyes at her instead. “You are a terrible sister.” 

Lying to Laura never worked, and not just because she could hear the skip in his heartbeat that definitively proved to her that he was lying. She knew him too well, had dragged him through the worst times of his life with her ironclad faith in him - and no matter how much he complained about her interference in his life sometimes… He owed her his life a million times over, and he couldn’t imagine not having her. He never even wanted to imagine. 

“And you are a terrible liar,” she gloated. “You love me. Almost as much as you love Stiles. So help me out, little brother.” 

She was never going to let this go, was she? He rarely met new people and never actually let those people behind his damn walls - even though the walls were well-deserved after… everything, Laura had managed without them somehow. And he should have been able to, no matter how Laura had disagreed. 

But it made this all the more rare. Stiles made him _ smile _. 

And he still wasn’t going to act on it - because why would he? Acting on it was terrifying, and he’d never even met Stiles before, so there were no guarantees that he’d still be interested when they did. Maybe Stiles didn’t smell good to the less than human side of him, though he had never scented anything bad on Laura when she returned from work and visited him (before either heading home or to her boyfriend’s place). 

In fact, there was one scent that he associated with the coffee shop, that just… Had quite the effect on him, and knowing his luck? That was definitely going to be Stiles’ scent. 

“What are your options?” Derek finally asked, because he could at least try. 

“Nothing, Derek,” Laura went from teasing him to freaking the fuck out. “He’s been working for me for over three months and I’ve got nothing. Because I’m terrible, and you’re in love with him so you might as well help.”

Well, at least Laura was right about being terrible, and maybe if he didn’t protest too much she wouldn’t make him help with the present she was getting her boyfriend. Because he already had a lifetime of knowledge about his sister, but that was a bridge too far. Especially with how prone Laura was to get her SOs seriously not safe for work presents. 

So maybe helping with Stiles’ present wasn’t the worst thing. 

“Laura,” he sighed, trying not to be obvious at reaching for his phone. 

Werewolf? Did he know? How could he know? 

The panic lasted for about five seconds before he remembered that Stiles was getting a degree in mythology and folklore, so the comment about werewolves made sense. Laura wasn’t actually that obvious and wouldn’t expose this secret to an employee, even though he was definitely her favorite. 

And Derek’s. 

* * *

_6 weeks before_

Derek was dying. 

Not literally, not actually, but it certainly felt like it. Because Stiles had found his Twitter, and he was now sending him a private message for some reason?

How did he even find out? When they spoke on the phone a week ago Stiles was still calling him dude and Gus with great prejudice, and Derek was just biting his tongue the whole damn time. Because he knew this was going far beyond Stiles just talking to him to get to Laura - and he had to put a stop to it. 

He just had to stop flirting with Stiles - or Derek’s version of flirting, which involved talking to Stiles like an actual person while internally dying of how into this guy he was. 

And then he actually read the messages - and he metaphorically died all over again. 

Stiles was right, he’d gotten messages like this before, and if it didn’t feel like the person was trying to get something else out of right, he helped the people occasionally. Just like he’d done for Erica and Isaac. 

Not so much anymore for Erica, these days. Boyd had finally made his move on Valentine’s Day, and while it was still early days for them, it seemed to be going really well. Now Erica had a real boyfriend to scare off any creepers interested in her. And Boyd took to it well, with a sense of humor that surprised most people. 

Clearly they thought Boyd was a dumb, practically silent rock. They were wrong. 

But this was not the time to get stuck on those thoughts, because he had a shirt to find. For Stiles. Because Stiles needed him. 

“Fuck,” Derek cursed, digging through his dresser. 

Where was that damn shirt? Dirty laundry? No. Dryer? Also no. Washing machine, with the rest of the laundry that had been in there for at least two days? Yes (so that was the smell he couldn’t figure out). Great. Fuck. Guess he’d have to wash everything again later. After he helped Stiles. 

Which he had to do right now - so he just ripped off the shirt he was currently wearing, cringing at the unmistakable sound of a couple of buttons popping off. He looked around the living room for something, anything that would prove that he was either with Stiles or actually knew Stiles, or at least knew of the texts this Brandon guy was sending. 

He finally found a random notebook that he could scribble an insult into - because fuck Brandon, that’s why. It took a couple of tries to get both himself and the note in the picture, especially because his handwriting was kind of shitty and the note had to be legible. Finally, on attempt 13, he figured that was the best he was going to do. 

His heart was pounding as he sent Stiles the picture. This crush was so embarrassing. 

Stiles’ messages following the pictures were… very indicative of Stiles. A lot more words than Derek would have used to convey a simple things, and some compliments about Derek that could have been misconstrued as highly flirtatious. But it wasn’t like that. 

This was just Stiles being grateful to a nice guy online. Which was all he was ever going to be. 

Of course he texted Laura to complain about this being his life, and of course she made fun of him for it, and asked him why he wouldn’t just come to the shop and properly meet Stiles. 

Not if he could avoid it, because he knew he’d be seeing a look of disappointment on Stiles’ face. 

* * *

_10 minutes before_

He had no idea that this was the day that he was actually going to meet Stiles, in the flesh. He was just at home, in his office, staring at his laptop screen in the hopes of triggering himself into being productive somehow. 

And then Laura texted. 

Typical Laura, sending five texts when one would do. And usually he would have said something snarky about it, but if Stiles was actually in trouble? He wasn’t going to spend valuable time arguing with his sister. Surely there’d be plenty of time for that later. 

He ran out of his apartment, barely remembering to lock the door before he sprinted off in the direction of the coffeeshop. If he was lucky, it was only going to take him a couple of minutes. 

Not that Derek was ever lucky. 

Still, within about five minutes, Derek was standing in front of the coffeeshop. He was breathing hard, partly because he’d really pushed his limits, and partly because he was going to be standing in front of Stiles any minute now, and he was not ready. 

He stepped inside, and tried to make sense of the situation. Laura was smirking slightly, shoving her phone in the face of some random guy - the scent coming off that asshole made Derek want to growl at him until he left Stiles the fuck alone. Because clearly this was about Stiles. 

Stiles who was right in front of him now, behind the counter, scent screaming at Derek. He was uncomfortable, a bit scared, even though he appeared to have a handle on things. And he was angry. 

Fuck, he was beautiful even when pissed off. Or especially so when pissed off. 

"Stiles.” 

His crush’s heartbeat went into overdrive as he looked up and recognized Derek, but Stiles somehow managed to play it cool. If Derek hadn’t had superhuman senses, he probably wouldn’t even have known. 

"Surprising me at work?" Stiles actually smiled at him. 

"Laura texted," Derek just couldn’t deal. "She told me you had a persistent admirer. And I missed you." 

Laura didn’t tell him any such thing, but he’d managed to put it together - and Laura did tell him that Stiles needed his boyfriend. And she seemed to think that Derek somehow qualified, because he’d sent him a couple of pictures online and had been stupidly pining over Stiles for months now. Months. 

Yes, he was fully aware of how pathetic that was, even as he stepped closer to the counter to get a better sniff at Stiles. He smelled really good - because he was that favorite scent that clung to Laura after she’d been working. 

There was a mischievous look on Stiles’ face now. "Since this morning?"

Derek regretted everything, ever, because the pictures entering his mind now were extreme wishful thinking and definitely not safe for the public. 

"Shut up,” he muttered, trying to sound angry instead of fond. 

And because Stiles smelled like arousal, and he was probably never going to get a chance like this again, Derek leaned in over the counter and kissed Stiles firmly on his gorgeous mouth. That chasing the asshole off was only a bonus, and he forgot about the asshole and everything else as soon as Stiles started kissing him back. 

* * *

_After_

After the asshole - Trent, Laura called him - had left, Stiles abandoned the counter and pushed Derek down onto the one couch in the establishment. Surprise was the only reason Stiles managed to pull that off, but Derek was still impressed. And turned on. 

And then Stiles sat down next to him, practically on top of him. 

“Stiles,” he managed to say, again. 

Words were really hard when the boy he suspected was his mate was pressed so close to him, and Derek had to practically fuse himself to the couch to keep himself from faceplanting scruff first into Stiles’ long, slender neck. 

His mark was going to look so good there. 

A calculating look on Stiles’ face. “Why is your voice so familiar?” 

“Derek, he really doesn’t know?” Laura was listening, and laughing. 

“Shut up, Laura,” he growled at her, not amused by the intrusion. 

And that was what did it. That was a familiar tone for Stiles. 

“Oh. My. God,” Stiles’ beta gold eyes were wide as he finally made the connection. “You’re Gus. That is just so unfair. Now I’ve made two terrible first impressions on you somehow. Only Stiles Stilinski. Fuck my life.” 

The scent of embarrassment wafted off Stiles, and even though Derek was still having trouble forming words, he still had to do something to banish that sour tinge to Stiles’ usually so wonderful scent. 

“Not terrible,” Derek managed to get out, even with the suddenly crippling shyness. 

“He’s been pining for you for six months,” Laura interjected. “So Stiles, for all that is good and holy, just agree to a date with this loser so that the pining can be over.” 

Laura just lived to embarrass him. He would have been angrier about it if Stiles hadn’t smelled so pleased. Maybe, for once, Laura was actually making things better for her little brother. 

“I didn’t hear Derek ask,” Stiles pointedly turned to Derek. 

That little shit was far too happy at having the upper hand, and Derek was absolutely into it. And he was going to give back as good as he got, as soon as he regained the ability to speak in full sentences around Stiles. Which would be another few hours, surely. 

“Dinner? Tonight?” Two words were about all Derek could do at this point. 

“Thought you’d never ask,” was Stiles’ response, as he pulled Derek in for another kiss. 

Stiles was really good at that. Derek was so distracted he even managed to filter out Laura’s comments about hygiene and exhibitionism. Because he had a date, with Stiles! 

Now all he had to do was tell Stiles about werewolves and mates. 

Fuck.


End file.
